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Metaphor is the foundation upon which all scientific disciplines, from basic to applied, construct the mental models used in theory development and organizing research phenomena. The authors posit that a navigational science metaphor might provide a useful framework, or at least an additional “waypoint,” with which to evaluate extant accounting theory and further discourse in accounting research and practice. This study aims to critically examine the base metaphors of accounting theory and practice through the lens of navigational science.

The supreme dominance of the Positive Accounting Theory paradigm (Watts and Zimmerman, 1986) is critically evaluated using a navigational metaphor as a literary device for cognitive estrangement.

The authors suggest that accounting, as both a practical and academic field, might benefit from the multifarious approach of navigational science in the computation of longitude, particularly with regards to the use of external (societal) referents, moving toward a more “heteroglossic” model of accounting (vid. Macintosh and Baker, 2002) as a means of “situating” accounting research and practice with regards to said external referents (cf. Bayou et al., 2011).

This work brings together existing streams of literary theory and epistemology in accounting, and views them through the lens of a navigational science metaphor. Cognitive estrangement, a well-established device for reorganizing perplexing problems in any science, is used to reimagine an accounting science as navigational situating.

This study aims to present a model for detecting and predicting creative accounting in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).

The authors conduct this research in three stages. First, the authors review the literature to determine the dimensions, components, indicators and techniques of creative accounting. Second, the authors conduct semi-structured interviews with experts using the fuzzy Delphi technique to obtain screening and reach a consensus. Finally, the authors develop a model to predict creative accounting by classifying the financial statements of the sample companies into two groups based on the use or non-use of creative accounting techniques, measuring the indicators determined in the previous stage, running various machine learning algorithms and choosing the superior algorithm.

The results indicate the usefulness of accounting information for detecting and predicting creative accounting and the relevance of several financial attributes as important predictors. The results also indicate the superiority of extremely randomized trees over other algorithms in predicting creative accounting and suggest that the primary purpose of creative accounting in Iran is earnings management. Contrary to the political cost hypothesis, large Iranian companies use creative accounting to inflate profits.

The present research also has several limitations that must be considered, and caution must be exercised in interpreting and generalizing the findings as specified in the revised manuscript.

This study’s implications are significant for policymakers, standard-setters and practitioners. By recognizing the detrimental effects of creative accounting on financial transparency within companies, policymakers can address existing gaps in accounting standards to minimize the potential for earnings manipulation. Consequently, strengthening internal and external mechanisms related to a firm’s financial performance becomes achievable. The study provides evidence of the need for audit firms to recognize the importance of creative accounting and consider creative accounting in their audit plans to prevent insufficient or even misleading disclosure by companies that extensively use creative accounting practices in their financial reporting. Moreover, knowledge of creative accounting techniques can help auditors assess audit and detection risks and serve as a valuable guide for reducing audit costs and improving audit quality.

Given that creative accounting practices distort the true or real accounting results, curbing creative accounting practices reduces corporate failures and could lead to the reduction of job losses and other social consequences.

This study uses a unique database in Iran to determine a model for predicting creative accounting using a mixed-method methodology, qualitative and quantitative, to identify creative accounting techniques and run various machine learning algorithms.

This study aims to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on earnings management (EM). Furthermore, the authors assessed the mediating effect of accounting conservatism (AC) on the CSR-EM relationship over the long term. The authors also tested the moderating effect of corporate governance (CG) on the AC-EM relationship in the Finnish context.

Linear regressions were applied to panel data using Thomson Reuters’ ASSET4 database. Data were collected from 140 Finnish firms between 2005 and 2022.

The results confirm that negative CSR has an impact on EM. Moreover, AC mediates the relationship between CSR and EM. Likewise, CG moderates the relationship between AC and EM.

This paper may interest academic researchers and potential and current investors. This paper will help investors make relevant investment decisions. Managers should pay special attention to their EM. These firms must take social responsibility vis-a-vis all their stakeholders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to use AC as a mediator and CG as a moderating variable in the Finnish context. This research will enrich the literature by providing a comprehensive picture of the relationships between CSR and EM through AC and CG in developed markets. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the implications of CSR in Finnish companies.

The objective of this study is to determine the impact of GHG assurance on firms’ carbon emissions performance (CEP) regarding curbing carbon emissions and the effect on such by the GHG assurance provider’s affiliation and reputation. It also explores whether the affiliation and reputation of GHG assurance providers imply the relationship between GHG assurance and the firm’s CEP. Further, this study examines the moderating effect of the country’s development level on the relationship.

Based on a sample of international firms from 56 countries spanning the period from 2012 to 2020, this study utilizes the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. We also run the OLS regression at times t+1 and t+2 to verify the baseline results. To address the endogeneity concerns arising from self-selection bias and the causality effect, this study applies the generalized method of moment (GMM) and the Heckman test.

This study finds that GHG assurance leads to better CEP by firms. We also find that engaging with accounting assurance providers leads firms to a better CEP than non-accounting assurance providers. Our results show that Big Four auditors can help firms decrease carbon emissions. We also find that the positive effect of GHG assurance is prevalent in firms operating in developed countries.

Our study only considers the influence of the assuror’s reputation and affiliation on CEP without examining other factors that may influence the quality of assurance services provided.

Our study provides a practical implication related to the influence of a GHG assurance provider’s affiliation and reputation globally by providing evidence that accounting and Big Four assurance providers do play a significant role in a firm’s carbon emission performance. This study offers great insights into the GHG assurance impact on CEP with the interplay between the assuror’s affiliation and reputation and the country’s development.

This paper enriches the limit evidence on GHG assurance and CEP by providing novel evidence on the relationship between GHG assurance and a firm’s CEP. Moreover, this study provides insights into the implication of a country’s development level on the role of GHG assurance in CEP.

This study aims to analyse the role of the financial and accounting expertise of the chief executive officer (CEO) on financial reporting quality (FRQ) in an emerging economy.

This study is based on data collected from a large sample of all non-financial companies listed on Vietnamese stock exchanges during the period 2016–2020 with 2,435 observations. FEM-ROBUST standard errors regression model is used to examine the relationship between the financial, accounting expertise of CEOs and FRQ through earnings management by discretionary accruals.

The results show that CEOs with financial and accounting expertise have more influence and intervention on earnings management and thus adversely affect FRQ. This behaviour is explained by the fact that CEOs not only have a firm grasp of financial and accounting policies but also know the tricks to interfere with earnings management. Moreover, in the context of emerging economies, CEOs’ awareness and management level are still limited and legal sanctions are not yet strict, so when they have power in their hands, CEOs immediately find ways to build a reputation to enhance the power and earnings for the CEOs themselves.

The limitation of this study is first of all that the research data are not complete and rich because the companies are prohibited from disclosing information and the cooperation relationship is not close. Next is the new research in only one emerging market – Vietnam – so the generalizability is not high.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of CEOs’ accounting and finance expertise on FRQ in an emerging economy, contributing to the existing literature regarding the scientific debates about CEOs, CEO characteristics, earnings management and FRQ.

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Mayors in Portugal engage in earnings management close to zero with the motivation of re-election.

The data used in this study were annual financial information from Portuguese municipalities from 2005 to 2016, as well as data on elections and Mayor re-elections involving three political cycles. The methodologies employed were quantitative, including graphical and panel data regressions.

The results indicate that municipalities used discretionary accruals to engage in earnings management to report net earnings close to zero, and re-election seems to be a motivation for earnings management behaviour. Furthermore, the results suggest that municipalities in which the Mayor is re-elected are less likely to report positive net earnings close to zero.

This paper makes a valuable contribution to the literature on earnings management in municipalities. At the theoretical level, it makes it possible to identify whether re-election is a motivation for earnings management and, in this sense, to identify patterns of behaviour by managers. On a practical level, the knowledge of a manager's behaviour patterns will help to anticipate his or her future behaviour and, consequently, may prevent inefficiencies.

This study aims to examine the prevalence of transfer pricing and earnings management activities, and how they are impacted by corporate governance mechanisms.

Using the political cost theory, the study provides insights into how opportunistic managerial behaviours which have a strong link to profit shifting and tax evasion are driven by corporate governance using data from 16 listed firms for the period 2008–2020.

The results reveal that the transaction-based transfer pricing model is better than the index-based model and the accrual-based earnings management model suits the political cost theory more than the real earnings management metric. Board size and female CEO increase transfer pricing aggressiveness but board independence, CEO tenure, CEO nationality and female Board Chairwomanship reduce transfer pricing aggressiveness. The findings also reveal the role of multinational enterprise status, private ownership, industry type, firm size, financial leverage, asset tangibility and firm age. For accrual-based earnings management, board independence, CEO tenure, and female Board Chairwomanship significantly decrease earnings management. Other factors include private ownership, firm size, and firm age.

The findings of the study are relevant for shaping industry-level policies on earning management, transfer pricing and related-party transactions. Since these opportunistic managerial behaviours are the foremost drivers of tax avoidance and profit shifting, the findings of this study provide relevant insights for practitioners, tax and other regulatory authorities, policymakers and the academic community alike.

This is among the premier studies on the transfer pricing and earnings management nexus with corporate governance factors using the political cost theory, especially in the developing country context. It also reveals the significant impact of gender and suggests the need for gender diversity in corporate management.

The research objective starts from the argument that small-scale multinational corporations’ (SMNCs’) managerial behavior toward auditing decisions is influenced by their personal value, especially when the auditing process is not mandatory. This study aims to examine how national culture-religiosity affects that decision. The authors further examine how foreign-owned MNCs might behave differently from local MNCs, although the host country’s cultural-religiosity value might influence that decision.

This study obtains the data from three sources: Hofstede Framework, Pew Research Center and World Bank Enterprise Survey in cross-sectional mode. The final sample consists of 8,590 SMNCs from 45 countries as the observations. This study uses robust regression analysis to test the effects of culture, religiosity and controlling shareholders on the audited financial statements decision.

The regression results support the hypothesis, whereas cultural-religiosity values are associated with the audited financial report. The findings confirm stakeholder theory and institutional theory.

This study fills a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the cultural and religiosity effects on the accounting decision of SMNCs. The results can be used as the foundation for future research related to MNCs’ managerial behavior toward accounting policies, especially with the psychosocial factors.

The purpose of this study was to determine the determinants of financial statement fraud: the perspective of pentagon fraud theory.

This study used quantitative methods with an explanatory research design by applying secondary data on Islamic banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

External pressure affects financial statement fraud, ineffective monitoring affects financial statement fraud, external auditor quality affects financial statement fraud, change in auditor affects financial statement fraud, frequent number of CEO’s picture affects financial statement fraud, external pressure affects firm size, ineffective monitoring affects firm size, external auditor quality affects firm size, change in auditor affects firm size, frequent number of CEO’s picture affects firm size, firm size affects financial statement fraud, firm size mediates the relationship between external pressure on financial statement fraud, firm size mediates the relationship between ineffective monitoring on financial statement fraud, firm size mediates the relationship between external auditor quality and financial statement fraud, firm size mediates the relationship between change in auditor and financial statement fraud, firm size mediates the relationship between frequent number of CEO’s picture and financial statement fraud.

The limitations of this research were found during the research process and can be used as input for further research and related parties in conducting the research to obtain better research results. The limitations of this study are as follows: this study only focused on Islamic banking, so it cannot be generalized to other sectors. Besides, this study only tested five independent variables, one dependent variable and one mediating variable.

For external auditors, financial statement fraud by management might be caused by many factors and is a social as well as an economic problem that must be addressed immediately. Therefore, in carrying out the duties and roles as an external auditor, they must have an attitude of independence (not taking sides) in the mental attitude that must be maintained by the auditor related to the assignment. Auditors must have sufficient technical expertise and training as auditors. In carrying out the audit, the auditor should use their professional skills in responding carefully and thoroughly. Moreover, in carrying out audit work, the auditor must have a plan, must know adequate internal control and obtain sufficiently competent audit evidence.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, very few studies in Indonesia have applied the Beneish model. There is only one study that implemented the Beneish model, and the study examined only a few companies listed on the IDX. The findings of the present study have important implications not only for banks but also for users of financial statement accounts in Indonesia, especially for investors, auditors, regulators, taxation and other state authorities.

This paper aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the quality of integrated reports (IR) and highlight the gaps in the existing research to provide directions and suggestions for future research.

This study was conducted through a systematic literature review using content analysis based on 40 papers from the Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCOhost databases on IR quality. While reading the full-text papers, the authors found six additional papers referenced by the literature being reviewed that were relevant to IR quality. Thus, there were 46 papers in the final review. The analysis begins with the definition and dimension of IR quality and theoretical lenses. Furthermore, this study outlines constructs or variables used in the previous literature.

The authors found that most studies used the quantitative method (41 papers or 89%). Five papers in the literature used qualitative methods (11%). Most researchers (34 papers or 72%) defined IR quality as consistent with the International Integrated Reporting Council framework, specifically the eight content elements. In particular, with the constructs that make up the quality of the IR, variations between researchers were found. Furthermore, there were some gaps that could be the directions for future research.

The literature that provides academic knowledge about IR quality is still limited, and research on IR is still growing. The literature review conducted by this study can provide an overview of the current research positions on the quality of IR and directions for future research in this area.

This study intends to show corporate executives a framework demonstrating the quality of corporate reporting. It can impact not only investors as a specific stakeholder group but also other stakeholder groups.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first literature review to examine the quality of IR, thus providing a map of current research to suggest directions for future research. Most of the previous literature reviews have been focused on integrated reporting (IR) in general and not quality.